


An Actual Lesson

by hbub1201



Series: Learn as they Go [6]
Category: Black Sails
Genre: Actual learning, Flirting, Happy Captain, Know it all Billy, M/M, Oblivious Silver, Wise Mr Scott
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-11
Updated: 2016-02-11
Packaged: 2018-05-19 15:23:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5971807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hbub1201/pseuds/hbub1201
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Billy and Flint may still be learning but its actually Silver who's in for a lesson.</p>
            </blockquote>





	An Actual Lesson

"What do you want Silver?" Billy asked tiredly as he continued tugging old bits of rope away from a molding barrel.

"What makes you think I want something?" The quartermaster chirped back.

"You're breathing..."

Silence followed the snarky retort so Billy glanced to his side to see the other man stood still and staring, a smile forced onto his face.

"And the fact that you are now breathing in my vicinity means you want something from me..." The bosun continued when it was obvious that Silver was at a bit of a loss as to how to proceed. "So I ask again, what do you want Silver?"

"I want to know your intentions." The one legged man responded cautiously.

"My intentions have never been hidden."

"True, but recently they have seemed to shift a bit." In all honesty Silver had no idea why he was forcng this subject. Yes, he had noticed a shift in Billy's attitude but that was not why he was here, the trouble is that Billy knew him well enough to know that nothing was as it seemed with Silver so he was more likely to accept his reason for coming here if he thought there was something behind it.

"Perhaps, but they are still as obvious to you as I'm willing to make them," Billy said firmly, moving his eyes back to the task at hand and turning from Silver once again. "So what makes you think I'd have anything left to say to you on the matter?"

"Look," Silver started, moving forward with his arms raised appeasingly. "You don't trust me, I can respect that, but I really am working for the benefit of this crew. I don't know when it happened but somewhere along the line I started to care about this band of merry miscreants and now my aim is simply to see them through this war." 

"I believe you."

"I'm sorry, what?" Silver stopped his advance immediately, admittedly taken aback by the honesty with which Billy seemed to believe him.

"I belive that you want to keep this crew alive." The taller man affirmed.

Silver exhaled gladly. "Well that's gre-"

"I also believe you want to keep them in your favour so that when this war is over it will be you they are willing to follow." The bosun continued as matter-of-factly as before.

"That's no-" Silver tried to protest, already fearing where this conversation was headed.

"So where does that leave me?" Billy interrupted, determined to cut through the bullshit.

"I suppose," Silver stated softly, careful not to cause any fresh arguments, but curious as to the potential outcome, "In this hyperthetical situation that would depend on where you wanted to be."

"So," Billy retorted back, putting down the barrel and finally turning his whole body to face down the other man. "Either you want to know now whether I would be willing to betray Flint to follow you, or you're here to make the first steps toward favouring me to that end."

Silver stared the bosun down as best he could, realising his mistake at letting the conversation run away with him to become about something it really wasn't meant to be about. Not yet anyway. "Or perhaps I simply want your opinion, your advice."

"My advice?" Billy asked doubtfully.

"Well yes, the crew respect you, they trust you and you know them better than anyone." Silver took another step forward and willed his voice to sound honest and not patronising.

"You're getting there." The taller man countered, knowing full well that Silver had no intention to ask him for his help in gaining support from a crew he was already succesfully entwined with.

"And Flint?" The shorter man shot back.

"What about Flint?"

"He respects you," Silver explained stoicly, "He trusts you and he relies on you in a way he never will me." The quartermaster moved to the side of the table and picked up his own portion of tangled rope to unwind, "So for a man to hold that sort of favour with a person like Flint it would be foolish of me not to recognise your ability to advise."

"And what advice could you possibly want from me?" Billy turned to watch Silver, leaning with one arm against the worktop and the other rested against his hip.

"I want to learn to sail." The long haired man declared honestly, finally realising the best way to get through to the bosun was to cut through the bullshit.

"You want to learn to sail." Billy muttered, as much a statement as a question and Silver had to do a double take when he noticed Billy's thoughtful reaction.

"We need to win this war Billy," Silver pushed on determinedly. "I know you wont believe this but my thoughts have not strayed beyond that end. I understand now, why the Captain favours your advice over mine. I may understand these men but I do not understand this ship, I need you to teach me how to be as much a part of her as the rest of you are so I can help sail her to victory."

"And when the war is over?"

"Wouldn't it be better to survive the battle in order to cross that bridge when we came to it? You know me, Billy, you know how valuable I could be in that fight."

"But Flint won't listen to you until he trusts your judgement as a sailor as well as a snake." The bosun remarked snidely, but not without consideration.

"I prefer strategist, but yes." Silver replied proudly, happy being honest for once.

Billy turned away then, looking back to the barrel on the table and pring off a piece of rooten wood in order to free more rope. "How's your leg?" He asked suddenly, neither face nor voice giving off any clue as to his thoughts about what Silver had just asked.

The shorter man all but balked at the change of subject. "Umm," he mumbled suspiciously, was the other man questioning his ability? "I'm getting used to it."

"Good!" The bosun replied sharply, lifting the barrel off the table and throwing it to the floor in one swift movement, making the quartermaster fight to contain his surprise. Billy smirked as he bent down to pick up any salvagable pieces from the wreckage then continued as he rose, voice chirpy once again. "Because I won't go easy on you just because you're crippled."

Silver snorted out a laugh and looked up to Billy as the bosun handed him several scrap pieces of wood. Both men smiled a clipped sort of smile, not fully trusting of each other just yet but understanding that for now at least they had a common goal.

 

-x-

 

Flint watched from the upper deck of the ship as Billy and Silver worked shoulder to shoulder around the rigging. Silver was obviously trying to trying to draw a smile from the reluctant bosun as Billy explained every element of the ship and what its uses were. The Captain frowned in confusion at the pairs sudden friendliness, dread forming in his gut that the quartermaster had finally figured out his feelings and was manipulating the bosun for his own advantage. He tried to contain his anger and suspicion as the two continued to work, oblivious to Flint's proximity to an outburst of rage, or judgement. Panic was not an emotion he was new to but this felt much more important as the evidence was right in front of him and it was Billy who was closest to the danger. No sooner had Flint taken the first step toward the now light heartedly squabbling pair than footsteps approached from behind him, halting his advance.

"Never thought I'd see the day that those two worked together so easily." Mr Scott announced from beside him.

"Hmm" The Captain mumbled, not interested in a conversation of any kind, wanting only to go and rectify the situation.

"This is a good development." The former slave assured boldly. "Those two together make for one hell of a sailor."

"They don't need to be together to be essential to this crew." Flint snapped back, feeling a rediculous need to defend the bosun even though he knew Mr Scott did not mean any harm with his words.

"I know," he affirmed honestly, "But this is good for the morale of the men." Mr Scott explained simply. 

"Hmmm," Flint murmured again, still very interested in where this conversation was going, preoccupied as he still was with staring at the two men now leaning even closer together as Billy apparently seemingly explained to Silver how best to invade personal space. Flint scowled at himself for his annoyance but couldn't bring himself to avert his eyes..

"They trust all three of you," Mr Scott announced honeslty, "The men," he explained as Flint's face finally turned to his. "But for very different reasons. They trust you to do whatever is necessary to win, they trust Silver to maniulate the situation to benefit all of them aswel and they trust Billy to make all of it work together, your strategy and Silver's schemes. Having you three at each others throats, or even just having you untrusting of each other, that is not good for the crew. Having you all put aside your differences and work together will fill the men with renewed confidence."

Flint looked over the other man as he spoke, listening but not really hearing as he was still too busy wandering who between Billy and Silver had decided that now was the time to act all friendly. "Perhaps." He shrugged dismissively. Silver was a master manipulator but Billy was no fool, he'd see through it. Flint believed that as much as he believed him himself would.

"Why do you think Billy's teaching him up here," Scott continued, Flint again shot his head round to look at the other man, so it was Billy's idea? "In front of all of the men, not down in your office over a book. Silver had protested that he should not appear to need instruction in front of the men, that it would show weakness enough that they'd lose faith in him."

"He has a point." The Captain reasoned argumentatively, prompting further response, wanting to hear all that Scott knew.

"Perhaps, if the crew were made up of men like you and me, men like Silver. But Billy knows these men and he pointed out that they didn't trust Silver because he was a sailor. They know he knows as little about boats as they do about politics, they trust him because they believe he's on there side. They have you and Billy to handle the sailing, they don't need Silver for that." The older man argued back, as calm as he always seemed to be.

"So they don't care that Silver is learning, they're just pleased it's Billy who's teaching him." Flint remarked, internally rolling his eyes at himself for being so consumed with worry for his bosun that he hadn't seen the simplicity of what the taller man was doing.

"Yes." Mr Scott confirmed.

Flint snorted again, at his own stupidity but also at Billy's ability to impress him even now. He felt pride for the other man wash through him warmly as he finally looked down at Billy and Silver and saw their interaction for what it was. A calculated show of unity.

"Why do I sense that this lesson doesn't end there?" Flint all but laughed, turning back to face the man at his side, obviously refering to the wisdom Scott had just imparted on him, not what was going on below them.

Mr Scott snorted knowingly, "It's not just the two of them the crew want working together."

 

-x-

 

"How far have you got?" 

After Scott had walked away Flint had stood for a few moments, allowing himself the time to just watch the two men in front of him. It wasn't unusual for Flint to watch Billy work, to watch him navigate the ship like it was made for him alone to do so. To watch him interact with the crew as easily as Flint could read a map, to see him lose himself in his work like no other crewman did. Seeing Billy in his element like this always filled Flint with a sort of pride, as undeserved as that may be considering he had no hand in the amazing man the bosun had become. But he felt it none the less, pride and awe and pure, unapologetic desire.

Since that night not so long ago that Flint had thought he'd lost the other man forever only for them to finally commit to each other fully, to admit their love and choose each other over everything else that threatened to tear them apart. Since that euphoric evening back in his cabin where the bosun belonged, Flint had finally been able to breath. He'd been able to take moments of calm and just watch the man he loved, take solace from him and escape into those individual moments of respite and just feel again. And as he looked down at the taller man, explaining all that he knows to a quartermaster who seemed genuinely interested despite having previously assumed he knew everything, the pride and the desire, Flint realised, had not deminished. It hadn't lessoned even a fraction, the mystery and the need was still as strong as the first few cautious encounters. Billy Bones would be the death of Captain Flint, of this he was certain, and he couldn't be more content with it if he tried.

"Well he knows what a mast is." Billy smiled, looking up as his Captain approached them mid lesson.

"Ha ha." Silver laughed sarcastically, though he too was smilling from his perch on the floor, looking incredibly proud of himself for wahtever lessons he'd learned so far. "Don't worry Captain, I'll be a full fledged sea dweller in no time at all."

"He's learning fast," Billy acknowledged, leaning over the raven-haired man to point a section of the rigging he'd obviously been in the middle of explaining before the Captain had interrupted.

"Well perhaps he'll learn even faster with two teachers." Captain Flint remarked back, folding up his sleeves as he climbed over some rigging in order to situate himself amongst the other two.

"Do you not trust my lessons Captain?" Billy fired back, though there was no malice in his voice and he was still smilling.

"On the contrary Mr Bones, I'm looking forward to learning from them myself?" Flint responded hoping Silver mistook the affection in his voice for general crew banter.

"OK, what is going on here?" Silver piped up then, not picking up any of the, frankly quite obvious affection, but still not understanding why this morning he had no one willing to teach him and now apparently he had the two most important members of the crew, outside of himself of course, seeming both eager for the job.

"I believe there are things for all three of us to learn here Silver," Flint remarked, smiling a dangerous smile of his own. "And what better time than now."

Silver's eyes followed Flint's arms as they gestured around to the busy ship surrounding them. Perhaps he simply meant because things on board were relatively straight forward at the moment so they could afford to spare both Flint and Billy's time, but the smug expression on their Captain's face told him there was more to it than that. He turned to see a similar expression on Billy's face and suddenly the reason for the bosuns earlier insistance on a public lesson became clear. "Where the whole crew can see us working together?" He muttered knowingly.

"Precisely," Flint confirmed, looking straight at his mischievious bosun. "Isn't that right Billy." 

"Oh, you're the Captain sir, what do I know about such things?" Was the taller mans sarcastic response. His eyes declaring innocence but his smirk showing otherwise.

 

-x-

 

"You know," Flint all but whispered as he approached his bosun. "You could have just told me."

Flint discarded his jacket on the table in his quarters and continued his advance toward the taller man. After a day of working together, teaching Silver as well as reluctantly learning from him too, the night was finally upon them and Flint had been crawling out of his skin to get the bosun alone. Instead of waiting in his quarters for the other man to make his excuses and remove himself from the bunks, Flint had stayed up on deck and helped with the transition to the night crew. When he'd finally come back down and opened to door to his office, Billy had been sat at the window, lost in the image of the sea.

"I had every faith you'd work it out." Billy said back, not turning from the window but lowering his head as he spoke, smilling to himself in a warm and private moment of calm.

"You told Scott to clue me in." Flint accused knowingly, his own smile small but real.

Billy stood and turned to allow his Captain to close the gap between them. "Only if you hadn't figured it out before your scowl turned murderous."

"I was not scowling." The shorter man argued, finally reaching his bosun and stopping just short of touching him.

Billy scoffed but made no move to retort, instead the two stood in a sort of stale mate, looking at each other with matching smirks, both just waiting for the other to make a move.

"Nutt believes you now take sleep under Howell's operating table." Was what the Captain said instead, finally happy to allow moments of talk between them, knowing they would have all night for the rest.

Billy snorted at that. "Howell doesn't have an operating table, he just uses the nearest flat surface."

"It's a good job then, that I didn't use his instructions to try and find you." Flint smiled, taking a tentative step forward, not really knowing when the mood had changed but no longer being scared of it.

Billy continued to smile for a few moments before his lips dropped and his breathing increased. "You don't look for me anymore," Billy spoke confidently, his breath now matched by Flint's, "You know exactly where to find me."

Flint closed the distance then, pushing himself into the taller man and encapsulating his lips in a bruising kiss that somehow managed to be soft and desperate all at the same time. Billy breathed into the kiss and immediately brought his hands up to wrap around his Captains shoulders and waist, pulling the shorter man ever closer. Flint's hands were holding firmly onto his bosuns neck and cheek, one tangled roughly into his hair, the other caressing soft skin gentle whilst simultaniously making sure the younger man cannot withdraw.

"You made a choice here the other night," Flint gasped barely withdrawing enough to speak without talking directly into Billy's lips.

"A choice I stand by," Billy affirmed back just as softly.

The bosun knew that Flint was struggling to accept Billy's decision, struggling to believe that something he wanted so much could actually happen for him, that Billy could want him above all else, even knowing everything he knows about the older man. But that was OK, because Billy would be here next to him, ready to remind him it was real, whenever the doubt set in.

The two men stood, arms gripping the other tightly, bodies touching from forehead to toes, stealing each others breath in every possible way.

"I intend to make sure you never regret that choice." Flint saint honestly , drawing his head back only as much as needed to look up into the other mans eyes. "I love you Billy, God help me I really do."

Billy surged forward then, reclaiming his lovers lips and pouring all of his emotion into the ensueing kiss. The younger man didn't think the novelty of hearing those words, directed at him, coming from that man, would ever wear off. He'd fought his feelings for a very long time, he'd fought them because he new there was nothing that could ever come of them, and because for the longest time he didn't want anything to. He knew he wanted Flint but he also knew he hated him, he saw only the monster and he wanted no part of the Flint who would destroy his crew in a heartbeat, for his own gain.

As Billy had finally started to understand, to see beyond that one dimensional villain, to the tortured soul beneath, the good man that existed within, he'd realised that it was love he felt. It wasn't want or need, not only anyway, it was love and he couldn't fight it back anymore because everytime their shoulders would brush or Flint would ask for his council above all others, every time Flint would search his eyes out in the crowd, he fell a bit more in love with a man he thought would never be able to feel anything back.

So to hear those words, said so freely, so honestly... "I love you," was all he could say back because no other words encapsulated what he felt whenever Flint said them, made sure he believed them. The relief and the hope and the god damn happiness in the midst of all the darkness and despair. "Flint, McGraw, all of you!" He affirmed, eyes pinched closed, forehead resting back against the other mans.

Flint shuddered at the sound, Billy saying the things he didn't even know he'd been longing to hear until that day he'd thought he'd lost the other man for good. He'd known, even before then that Billy was different, that he wanted a part of him somehow. But he was a master kidder and best most of all at fooling himself. Fooling himself into thinking it was some passing fancy, some nothing desire brought on by a life on loneliness and loss.

After Billy had gone into the water, after he'd said his prayers and his goodbyes, throwing the other mans sword into the depths to join him, he'd gona back into his cabin and he'd locked the door. He'd broken down in a way he hadn't known was possible. And after a tidal wave of grief and despair he'd finally admitted to himself that there was love between them, that he was in love with someone who wasn't Thomas, or wasn't Miranda. But in acknowledging that love he'd also had to accept that it was over now, lost to the wasteland of the ocean between them.

Since that day, even after Billy's miraculous return, Flint has been desperately fighting off any false hope of hearing those words back at him so for the other man to stand so boldly, so genuinely in front of him and not only tell him he loves him but mean it too? 

Flint ceases to be cautious after that, he kisses Billy soundly, whispering promises upon promises of futures he will give to the bosun, promises he has every intention of making a reality. He kisses him as he pulls Billy's shirt from his trousers, ripping the offending article of clothing over his shoulders and off of his wide and beautiful frame. Both men moaned as Billy all but tore Flint's shirt off in return then hands fumbled with trouser buttons and belt knots as Billy pushed Flint back against the chair he'd been sitting on only a few minutes prior.

Flint went willingly as Billy towered above him, never before having lett himself be so pliant, so vulnerable, even with Thomas, McGraw had to be in control of this aspect of their life. But Billy took away that need to protect himself from intimacy, with Billy nothing mattered but closeness in whatever form it came. With clothes removed and all barriers, both outside and in disguarded with them, Flint and Billy sank into each other in a blur of passion and desire that promised to keep them both warm for a long time to come.

 

-x-

 

"Flint!" Silver shouted as he knocked once on the door to his quarters.

"I don't know where Billy is!" Flint shouted agitatedly, stirring reluctantly from his slumber, it was still dark outside so there was no reason anyone should be knocking on his door this early in the morning. He felt Billy's arm clamp tighter around him, calming him somehow despite both mens tiredness.

Silver snorted, "He's in the weapon stores, taken to sleeping there since Woodley broke the cot in the kitchen."

Flint rolled his eyes and looked around to a smirking Billy, who simply shrugged and rubbed at his eyes. The Captain propped himself up on his elbows and blinked his eyes steadily open.

"What do you want Silver?" The older man rasped impatiently.

"I've finished the book," he responded like it was obvious.

Billy had to bite down on Flint's shoulder to keep from outright laughing at the perplexed look on his Captains face. "So?" The flame haired man asked back incredulously.

"Well I need another one." The one legged pirate shouted back dumbly.

Flint just growled. "Go to sleep Silver, you're no good to anyone exhausted."

"But-"

"No fucking buts!" Flint shouted ferociously. "You can look through my whole library of books tomorrow, but not before I send you up the sails, Billy can show you the rigging from up there if you're so desperate to learn."

Silence from the other side of the door, no retreating footsteps. Billy could just picture a determined Silver hovering by the door with a 'don't fuck with me' expression on his face even though Flint couldn't see it and probably wouldn't care even if he could. The bosun laughed quietly and nudged Flint out of their makeshift bed on the floor of his cabin. A bundle of blankets and clothes shielding their backs from the floor and their bodies from the cold. Flint moaned angrily as he stomped to his desk, wrapping the top blanket around his naked waist, leaving Billy with only a thin scrap of material to cover his giant, and also naked, form, an old shawl stolen from one of the whores from Nassau and brought aboard by one of the men, confiscated by Flint when Dooley and DeGroot had seemingly decided to fight to the death for its warmth. The Captain picked up a book without checking what it was about and then stormed toward the door, throwing it open just as Silver was raising his hand to knock again. Flint barely had the chance to see the innocent grin on the Quartermasters face before he threw the book at the younger man, he then slammed the door back in his face and locked it firmly before turning on his heal and marching back to lie by Billy's side, enveloping them both back into the heat of another body.


End file.
